The PS5 is the fastest-selling console in U.S. history, according to March game sales data

By Joseph Yaden Published April 25, 2023

The PlayStation 5 is officially the fastest-selling console in United States history. This news comes from the latest NPD sales report, which tracks the top-selling hardware and software for the month of March 2021.

Recommended Videos

As NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella explains, the PS5 is the fastest selling console in the U.S. in “both unit and dollar sales.” Despite this, the system has been relatively difficult to find across retailers since its launch last year.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1383042564756893703

Notably, the Nintendo Switch was once again the bestselling console for the month overall, and has been a top-seller for a record-breaking 27 consecutive months in the United States. Nintendo has struggled to keep up with high demand and has hinted that Switch consoles might be scarce throughout 2021.

Elsewhere in the NPD results is the list of March 2021’s bestselling games. Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War was the bestselling game of the month, climbing from the number two spot last month. Capcom’s Monster Hunter Rise debuted as the second-bestselling game of the month, followed by Outriders at number three.

https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1383042767002107904

Nintendo published seven out of the top 20 bestselling games including Super Mario 3D World, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Speaking of which, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is now the bestselling racing game in U.S. history, surpassing 33 million units sold.

One thing to note about Nintendo is that it does not provide digital sales stats, meaning all of its games have topped the charts on boxed copies alone. The same can be said about publisher 2K.

Finally, consumers spent a record-breaking $5.6 billion during March 2021, 18% higher than the same time in 2020. In total, consumers spent $680 million on hardware alone throughout the month of March.

Topics

Joseph Yaden is a freelance journalist who covers Nintendo, shooters, and horror games. He mostly covers game guides for…

Gaming

All confirmed games with PS5 Pro enhancements

A PS5 Pro sits on a table with a DualSense.

The main selling point of the PlayStation 5 Pro is how it will remove the need to decide between quality and performance modes on certain games. Thanks to its new GPU and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technology, all the best PS5 games can be played at the highest frame rates without sacrificing visual fidelity. However, this won't apply to every PS5 game by default. Games will need an update to take advantage of the console's new power. If you want to know which of your best-looking PS5 games will get a PS5 Pro enhancement, here is every game confirmed to be getting a boost.
All games with PS5 Pro enhancements

These are all the games confirmed to have PS5 Pro enhancements, which will vary from game to game. More games will be added to this list over time.

Gaming

The PS5 is finally on sale for Prime Big Deal Days. Now’s the right time to buy it

A PS5 sits on a table with a DualSense standing up next to it.

Despite the fact that we're four years into this current console generation, PS5 discounts have been as slim as its recent redesign. You'll hardly ever find Sony's console for less than its launch day price. Even when the PS5 Pro was announced, Sony opted to keep the base model's price the same. That's finally changed. As part of Amazon's Prime Big Deals Day, the PS5 Digital Edition just got a big price cut. Regularly $450, it's on sale for $400 through most major retailers, but has been bouncing a bit lower (it's currently $395 at the time of writing).

You may be wondering if this is the right moment to buy a PS5. After all, its $700 Pro model is slated to launch next month. I'd argue that this is the exact moment to buy a base model, though.

Gaming

All cross-platform games (PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

Two squads of heroes clash in an Overwatch 2 trailer.

Cross-platform support is becoming more important in the world of video games. Multiplayer hits like Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Fortnite have pushed crossplay into the limelight, and now most AAA multiplayer games release with at least partial cross-platform support. Finding every cross-platform game is no easy feat, though, so we did the hard work to bring you a comprehensive list of games that support crossplay.

Unfortunately, there aren't any rules when it comes to crossplay, so each game handles the feature a little differently. To make matters more confusing, certain backward-compatible games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X still support crossplay on the most recent hardware, even if there isn't an official release for that hardware.